


Loyalty

by ultharkitty



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-09
Updated: 2013-10-09
Packaged: 2017-12-28 21:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/997354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultharkitty/pseuds/ultharkitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vortex wants a pay rise.</p><p>Pre-war, Dysfunction AU. Contains references to murder and criminality. NB- in this AU, the Combaticons aren't a gestalt until they reach Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [naboru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/naboru/gifts).



"A pay rise?" It was an effort for Onslaught to keep a level tone, but he managed it. "Do I not already pay you enough?"

"You did," Vortex replied. He stood with his back to the plasglass wall, a shadowy gap in a galaxy of lights. Behind him sprawled the hive of central Kaon: the glare of the tower blocks, the shimmer of traffic, the gleam of the smelting pools. Inside Onslaught's office, the cool glow of the monitor was the room's only illumination.

"Did?" Onslaught echoed.

Vortex cocked his head. "I've had a very interesting evening." 

Onslaught ran a check on his integrated weapons. "Pray tell."

"Kiloton was at the Rusty Cog," Vortex said.

"Was she now?" 

Vortex flung himself in the room's sole empty chair. He looked at Onslaught over his arm, his visor brightening. "She and her trine," he said. "They hired the place out, they knew I'd be there. She had an offer for me."

Steepling his fingers, elbows on the desk, Onslaught stopped short of bringing his weapons online. "I thought your loyalty was assured."

Vortex made a dismissive gesture, his tail rotors rattling. "It is," he said. "For a price."

"I have paid your price."

"And now there's a new price," Vortex said brightly. "Kiloton's willing to beat you by fifteen percent with an extra twenty percent on bonuses."

Onslaught sighed. "And so you have come to negotiate." 

There was a long pause, at the end of which Vortex merely shrugged.

Onslaught fought the urge to violence; appropriate as it often was with Vortex, now was not the time. Now was the time to embrace the quiet, it was the time to think.

Outside, the night deepened. The poorer districts dimmed to dark, and the wail of a siren reached them though the layers of bulletproof plasglass. The building shivered at the passage of a trio of jets. 

Vortex spun the chair, feet out, head back. Onslaught risked a scan; his enforcer's weapons were off, his comms inactive. The light of the monitor caught a quicksilver smile. 

A game, then.

Now that made all the difference.

"I will match Kiloton's offer," Onslaught said. 

Vortex stopped spinning. "Good choice."

"Provided," Onslaught added. 

The smile returned, sharp and highly amused. "Provided?"

"Provided you do not test me like this again."

"What makes you think this was a test?"

Onslaught forebore to comment; he presented Vortex with boundaries and Vortex pushed, it was hardly a mystery. "I will have Cage draw up an amended contract," he said. "You have earnt that much."

"Have I now?" Vortex stretched and stood, and in the gloom it was as though a small part of him detached. But as the cold grey lump hit the centre of Onslaught's desk it became clear Vortex had brought it out from a compartment. 

Onslaught stared. "Is this what I think it is?" he said. 

Vortex flicked it with his finger. The dented metal rocked. "Depends if you think it's a test," he responded. He gave the laser core another flick, before heading for the door. "Hint: it's not a test."

No, Onslaught thought, it wasn't. It was a demonstration. Kiloton was dead, her trinemates would be too. In one harsh violation of the rules of criminal conduct Vortex had opened up the ground between Kaon and Polyhex. Ground ripe for a take-over.

Onslaught looked up as Vortex reached the door. "You predicted I would match her offer," he said. 

Vortex smirked. "You're loyal," he stated, and was gone before Onslaught could reply. 

As the blue light played over the surface of the laser core, Onslaught spared a thought for the nature of loyalty with regard to heliformers, and began to plan the expansion of his empire.


End file.
